Bangladeshi Catholic families feel besieged after beatings, seek government protection
DHAKA – A group of minority families in Muslim-majority Bangladesh are demanding protection from the government after they were beaten up by local Muslims after Christmas.
On Jan. 1, five Catholic families from Tetulia village – under the St. Francis Xavier Church in Satkhira district in the southern part of the country – formed the human chain, claiming they were attacked at least four times by local Muslims in the past year.
“We were attacked right after Christmas. We are only five minority Christian families living here. About 50 people attacked us with local weapons,” said Sabuj Goldar, a Catholic.
He told Crux that they have been attacked at least four times in the past year.
“We are a minority, but we are citizens of this country. So why shouldn’t we get justice? We want security from the government, we want to live safely,” Goldar said.
Earlier, there was a dispute between Christian families and some local Muslim families over land, but it is pending in court. This led to problems between the two sides over minor issues. A Christian family also lost a duck, causing a new set of problems.
Christians make up less than 1 percent of Bangladesh’s 180 million people and 90 percent are Muslims, the rest are Hindus and other religious minorities.
A catechist in the neighboring village has been following the latest incident since the day it occurred and is trying to resolve it.
Father Jewel Cuckfield, the parish priest, told Crux that he was not yet fully aware of the incident.
“However, I know that there was a land issue in that village. The church was not directly involved in their own problems,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials say they are investigating the incident.
“The Catholics have a problem with the locals over a piece of land. This incident led to attacks on Catholic families after Christmas. We are trying to resolve the incident by discussing it with local political leaders,” the government told Crux.
The affected Christian families are complaining that the schools were giving books to the students at the beginning of the year. But on January 1, the local attackers did not allow the students to go to school.
Local police officer Jahangir Hossain confirmed the incident and said that efforts are being made to resolve the issue locally and the police are also trying to resolve it administratively.
“We are investigating the incident and now the situation is normal,” Hossian said.
RELATED: Bangladesh police to take special security measures for Christmas
On August 5, 2024, after a student-led uprising, Sheikh Hasina fled to India and an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Yunus took over. Since then, the country’s administration has become somewhat dysfunctional and Islamist groups have taken advantage of this to increase attacks on minorities, especially Hindus and Christians.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council recently met with the main political party and potential future Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to convey the concerns of religious minorities.
Rahman assured minority leaders of their security.